July 10, 2012

by: Guest Contributor

Team Logan’s Inspiration

“You’re crazy. Why would you get up on a Sunday morning to go kill yourself in a race for three hours?”

That’s often the response I get from people when I tell them I like to run triathlons. This is usually followed by, “I’d never do that.” So the question that always remains is why do I do this? In all honesty, I get so nervous before every race that I almost get physically ill. And I ask myself the same question a hundred times before a race begins – why do I do this to myself? The answer? A five-year-old miracle named Logan who stole my heart and has inspired every breath and step I have taken since he entered my world.

I was never an athlete growing up, and I never had a desire to push myself athletically. And then Logan came along, four months early and weighing less than a pound. We endured six months in the hospital and countless obstacles. We were told many times that Logan wasn’t going to live and that if he did, he would never walk, talk or develop normally. But Logan just kept fighting and that incredible spirit quickly rubbed off. Once he finally came home from the hospital, I started working out and decided that I wanted to do something more than just exercising. I wanted to do something that would be meaningful to someone else. In June of 2009, Logan was officially diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy and about a week after the diagnosis, I saw online that there was a triathlon being held to raise money for UCP of Greater Cleveland. I had never heard of UCP (Logan was going to therapy at a local hospital) but I figured if I was going to do a race, I would do it for a cause that hit home. So I signed up as a member of Team UCP.

Soon after I signed up, I was contacted to visit UCP and meet some of the people there.  We decided to enroll Logan in the Steps to Independence program (UCP’s intensive therapy) around the time of the race, and we quickly realized that UCP was where he needed to be. Logan gained skills and strengths that he had never had. He started crawling and holding his head up. He began taking steps with a walker. UCP gave me back the hope that I had lost when Logan was born, and I realized that I wanted to do so much more to help the organization that had already helped me and Logan in so many ways.

This is our fourth year running the Cleveland Triathlon as Team Logan. We will be doing the Olympic distance race for the second time, and pushing Logan in the running portion. Logan loves to run and he gets so excited when people yell, “Go Team Logan!!” The whole day is so emotional for me. It is a chance for me to push my body beyond anything I ever thought it could do. And that is something Logan does every single day. All of the things that we take for granted are extremely difficult for him. He may never walk by himself, and I am honored that I get the chance to swim, bike and run for him. It’s his spirit that pushes me to train harder, run further and try as hard as I possibly can. We won’t ever win the race, but I will never stop because my “racing” is inspired every single time by him. No medal or trophy could ever mean more than hearing Logan say after I race, “I am so stinking proud of you.” That’s something few “winners” of races get.

Maybe after all is said and done, I am a little crazy. I’m totally crazy in love with a little boy who does things every day that medicine says he shouldn’t be able to do. I’m crazy about an organization that pushes him to his maximum and then some while supporting me the whole time. And I’m crazy about being given an opportunity, a few times a year, to make him as proud of me as I am of him.

Meghann Green
Team Logan!

You can support Team Logan by donating to UCP of Greater Cleveland on Team Logan’s Cleveland Triathlon Fundraising Page at http://www.active.com/donate/teamucp2012/TeamLogan.  Help them reach their goal of raising $10,000 to support UCP therapy programs!

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